Salt Meets Wound
by MagicalLittleCottage
Summary: Former enemies are forced together on a rescue mission and they don't know who they can or can't trust. In Neverland your worst nightmares are reality and magic is more dangerous than ever. As usual there's always a price to pay, but who will pay it? Emma and Hook find an ally in each other and Emma explores the price of magic. Set after the season 2 finale. Captain Swan fanfic.
1. The Plan

**Salt Meets Wound | Chapter 1 - The Plan**

It dawn on the ship and Emma is sitting curled up in a blanket looking at the horizon where the sun is on its way up. The waves are crashing softly against the ship.

"Have you been here _all night_?" David appears behind her with a concerned look on his face. "No," Emma answers without even looking at her father. "No I just couldn't sleep and I wanted some air."

"It's freezing out here." David says. "You should come back inside." He looks at Emma expactantly, but she doesn't move an inch. "I'm fine, David."

David hesitates for a second but decides to sit down next to his daughter. He puts an arm tightly around her shoulders. "We will find him-"

"Please don't say 'we'll always find him.'" Emma interrupts looking at her father for the first time since he found her sitting alone. "I won't. But we will, find him, I mean." He strokes his hand over her blond hair and holds her tighter, lightly kissing her forehead.

"What are you two doing up this early?" A voice behind them interrupts. "It's barely dawn." Emma turns around to face the voice. It's Hook. "Can you just not be here right now?"

"This is _my _ship, darling, so I'd be a little nicer if I where you." Emma rolls her eyes and stands up, letting the blanket and her father's hand fall off her shoulders. "Then I'll go." She says starting to walk back to her cabin.

"I'd be careful, pirate." David says with a serious look. Hook smirks back. "Aye, I wouldn't want to cause any problems for you... _Charming_, is it?"

"Good for you, Hook." Davis says and turns and walks away. _How very charming, _Hook thinks looking after David as he walks back to his cabin.

XXX

Emma lays down on her bed. Well, it's not much of a bed. Just like the cabin, it's small and smells of fish and saltwater. She stares up at the wooden ceiling. It had only been three days since they left Storybrooke for Neverland. The problem is that they landed right into the middle of the ocean, wherever you looked there was just more water. Hook said that he wasn't entirely sure in which direction they should head to get to the right part of the large island. Emma had looked at Hook doubtfully saying that he _better _be sure, because every second they where here and not on the island was a second longer away from Henry.

A loud knock on the door pulles Emma back to reality. With a sigh she walks to the door. She's almost sure it's Mary Margaret telling her that it's breakfast. No, it's too early. Then it must David checking up on her again.

"David, I told you I'm-" She says as she opens the door. Her jaw drops when she sees who's standing outside. Because it's not Mary Margaret or David. It's Hook.

"What are you doing here?" She asks suspiciously. "You forgot this." Hook says holding up the green blanket she'd curled up in earlier. "I thought you might want it back."

"A blanket? Seriously Hook?" Emma says rolling her eyes. She takes the blanket from Hook. "Well, if this was all you came for then you can leave now."

"Actually, love, there was something else I'd like to discuss with you." Hook looks at Emma, waiting for her to invite him inside. After a short silence she moves and lets him in.

"What's the matter?" Emma asks crossing her arms.

Hook clears his throat. "Remember when you said that you and I understand each other?" Emma nodds, suspicion growing in her eyes.

"Well I was counting on that. You see, Neverland is a strange place, magic there is unpredictable. And people who use magic are even more unpredictable."

"What are you saying?" Emma asks.

"That it changes people, magical people." Hook says. He looks at Emma, dead serious.

"It changes people? Changes them how?" She lets her arms drop. There is a long pause before Hook continues. "It turns you to the darkest version of you. The Crocodile and the Queen might turn on us once we get to the island."

"Wait, what about me?" Emma looks at Hook with a scared look in her eyes. "Will I change too? I'm the savior, I have magic."

"Magic you don't use, am I right? But they just can't resist using magic, that's why _they _are the problem."

"So you came to me because you knew that I'd agree with anything as long as it means that Henry will be safe and sound." Emma says with a curious smile, figuring people out has never been a problem for her.

"Aye, that I did." Hook admits. "So what do you suppose we do, Captain?" Emma eyes Hook expectantly, waiting for him to present his plan.

"We'll have to make sure they don't leave the ship, if they're stuck here we'll be able to find Henry first and bring him back. Once we leave this place they can't harm him anymore, well, not unintentionally." Hook explains. Emma nods, hanging on to his every word. "Let's start tonight."


	2. Before the Sundown

**Salt Meets Wound | Chapter 2 - Before the Sundown**

"Look!" Snow yells, pointing at something at the horizon. Hook unfolds his binocular and looks in the direction Snow had pinted. "Neverland." He confirmes, but his voice has an edge as if the memories he has from this place isn't very pleasant. Snow glanses at Hook with a glimse of sympathy in her eyes. If his time here indeed was bad, then coming back here must not have been on his _things I want to do before I die_-list. Maybe it wasn't the place, maybe it was something else, entirely. With Hook you could never be sure.

Emma joins the crowd with tired eyes, yawning. She looks at her mother, then Hook. "Good morning, honey. Did you sleep well?" Snow says, breaking the silence.

"I didn't sleep." Emma mutters. Snow opens her moth to say something but then closes it again.

"Look," Hook says tossing Emma his binocular. "It's Neverland. We're getting closer." Emma gaspes when she sees the land ahead. Finally they where getting somewhere, finally they where getting closer to finding Henry.

"Hook, can I talk to you for a moment?" Emma asks. She glanses at her mother. "I'm going to excuse myself so you two can talk." Snow says and walks away.

"Yes, love?" Hook smirkes. Emma sighs loudly. "So we're getting closer to Neverland, when do you think we'll be there. I'm not very good at boat-speed or this land." Emma says. She wants to be completely sure that their plan will work and that they'll have time to capture the possible traitors before they arrive. Or before they suspect anything.

Hook seems to read her mind. He leans closer to Emma. "We have to do it before sundown, that's when we'll arrive." He whispers. Emma nods and looks over at Mr. Gold - or Rumplestiltskin - and imagines for a second that if he turns back to the book version of himself, the darkes possible version of him, then he'd truly be a danger to Henry. Just thinking about how he gave up his son for power and all the pain he had caused in the past. He could easily kill them all, and if they all would die then Henry had no one to save him from whatever Greg and Tamara was brining him to - or whoever.

"I think we have a problem though." Emma looks back at Hook again. "Gold and Regina aren't fooled very easily. We have to come up with a really good plan to capture them, otherwise they'll get away for sure."

"Then that's what we'll do." Hook agrees.

If there was an award for deadliest gaze, then David Nolan would most certainly achieve it. It was extremely tempting to go over to the pirate looking at his daughter as if she was a gift to unwrap. But he knows that Emma is a smart girl who would never even think about getting involved with Hook. Snow lays a light hand on her husbands shouder and he turns to face her. He already knows what she's going to say.

"You've got nothing to worry about." She says in a calm voice. David nods, agreeing with her words. But he still can't shake the feeling that there is _something _going on, what it is is a mystery. A mystery he is determined to reveal.

**XXXX**

Later the same day, Emma's disappeared down to check the food - how much food do they have left and is it still edible and so on. She can't stop thinking about her conversation with Hook earlier. She knows that magic isn't as easy as you would think, and she knows that it always comes with a price. But those are facts. Magic in Neverland is supposedly the darkes form of magic, turning you to the darkes verion of yourself. Emma knows very well her worst, weakest or most reckless selfes, but her darkest self? That is something she'd never explored. Darkness and rescue mission goes together like two pieces from different puzzles. Emma tries to turn her thought in a different direction, it's not like she's going to use magic anyway, that is way off the map.

Footsteps outside the storage room startles Emma and she jolts up. Wandering innocently into the storage room is Hook with an amused look on his face. "Did I scare you, love?"

"No," Emma almost snaps. "I'm fine, I-I was just-" The words doesn't come out the way she wants them to. She bites her tounge and cuses for not being able to speak in front of Hook. This is one of those _what the hell is wrong with me _moments, and they're starting to come more often, creeping in and startling Emma everytime it happens. Hook smirkes at how he made her speechless.

"Well if I did I'm terrible sorry." He says in his most teasing voice. As he speaks he slowly walks closer to Emma.

He is standing very close now, Emma can feel his hot breath, she can feel his fingers bumping agains hers when he's breathing, she can feel every muscle in her body tense. In the blink of an eye he's so close their lips almost touch. "I think that it's time to set the plan in motion." Emma manages and takes a step back from Hook and his deadly lips. Hook sighs, the feeling of trying to reach something but never even gets to touch it stuck on his ips.

"As you wish, love."

"OK, then let's do it." Emma tries to sound like she's up for it, though in reality the same agonizing feeling is on her lips. "We don't have much time before sundown." She adds when Hook doesn't answer.

"You're right, Swan, we don't have much time." Hook says. Emma could swear that he said it more to himself than to her.

_To be continued..._

_**Author's note:**_

**So firstly I want to say that rewievs are very appreciated, so please take the time to give me some feedback. That way I can imrove my writing. So a big thank you to those who rewieved my first chapter and those who followed or added as favourite! And I also wanna point out that I know that I write pretty short chapters, I'll try to make the third one a bit longer. Well, that's it from me! I hope that you'll keep reading!**


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